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Instead of chewing the fat with so many consituents, let's see the candidates debate food topics.

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By JEFF HOUCK

jhouck@tampatrib.com

Published: October 31, 2008

Updated: 10/31/2008 06:35 pm

VOTE WITH YOUR MOUTH

So, Election Day is Tuesday. Or it was last month, if you voted already.

Amid all the political blah-blah, I have to wonder: Why wasn't food more of an issue during this presidential campaign? After years of stump speeches and debates and television ads, I have almost no idea where John McCain and Barack Obama stand on issues related to what and how we eat.

Sure, I get to see them hobnobbing with people and angling for votes while gnawing on local fare at campaign stops. The counter at the local diner is where the networks and newspapers go every four years when they want to talk to Joe Meatloaf. In that way, restaurants have replaced the corner barbershop as visual cues that the political elite are going out to hear what regular folks have to say.

When the candidates do venture into Foodland, the terrain gets tricky. While stumping in Iowa last year against Hillary Clinton, Obama was reported to have remarked about the price of arugula at Whole Foods. For this observation, some tried to paint him as an elitist catering to "the wine track," only to give way to the discovery that while there are no Whole Foods stores in Iowa, yes, arugula is grown and sold in stores there.

But beyond the well-orchestrated chewing of the fat and grocery class-warfare, I'm left feeling empty about where the next president wants to take the food I eat. I went online to check out the issues sections of their Web sites. The topic headers were:

Obama: Civil Rights, Defense, Disabilities, Economy, Education, Energy & Environment, Ethics, Faith, Family, Fiscal, Foreign Policy, Health Care, Homeland Security, Immigration, Iraq, Poverty, Rural, Service, Seniors & Social Security, Technology, Taxes, Urban Policy, Veterans, Women.

McCain: Economy, Energy, National Security, Health Care, Iraq, Homeownership, Veterans, Immigration, Education, 2nd Amendment, Judicial Philosophy, Homeland Security, Fighting Crime, Natural Heritage, Agricultural Policies, The Sanctity of Life, Climate Change, Ethics Reform, Space Program, National Service, Technology.

Food? Beyond a few agricultural talking points, it's missing in action.

It's remarkable, really, when you consider how food quality, safety and the lack thereof have become such huge cultural and public safety issues in recent years.

The next time we do this, in 2012 - is that a science-fiction number or what? - I'd like to see the Food Network sponsor a presidential debate on food topics. I'd pick food writer Michael Ruhlman to moderate.

Had that debate happened this year, here are a few questions I would have the candidates answer:

•The Centers for Disease Control said in 2007 that 76 million of the roughly 300 million people who live in the United States get food-borne illnesses each year. What will you do to improve safety standards and federal inspections, and how will you pay for those improvements?

•How would you penalize countries such as China for exporting foods and consumable products that contain harmful chemicals, additives or viruses?

•How many and what types fruits and vegetables do you generally consume in a 24-hour period?

•The diversion of corn supplies for production of ethanol fuel caused upheaval in food prices worldwide within the past two years. What would you do to stabilize food prices and insulate them from energy market demands?

•What is your plan to guarantee the safety of the nation's food supplies from terrorism?

•Would you seek a penalty tax for companies that produce fast food? Do you think those companies should be allowed to be sued by consumers of their products based solely on the nutritional content?

•When was the last time you ate a cheeseburger?

•Do you support modification of food through genetic engineering?

•Do you support mandatory nutrition labeling for restaurant menus? If so, what would be achieved by doing so, and how would you measure those results?

•What three things would you do to reduce wasteful and ineffective overlapping regulation by the U.S. Department of Health, Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration?

•What have you personally done to assist hunger-relief programs?

•How much does a gallon of milk cost?

•Please explain the basics of the federal government's "food pyramid."

•Sen. Obama, your home city of Chicago banned the sale of foie gras from 2006 to 2008. Sen. McCain, Arizona banned junk food from schools in 2005. For both candidates: Do you support the banning of foods and ingredients? What is your answer to those who say the government telling its citizens what foods people can and cannot eat is an invasion of privacy?

•Paper or plastic?

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